Garage tool



April 21, 1959 Filed July 15. 1955 B. L. KNOWLES GARAGE TOOL 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR BUFORD L K ATTORNEY April 21, 1959 B. L. KNOWLES 2,883,071

GARAGE TOOL 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed July '15, 1955 INVENTOR: BUFORD L. KNOWLES April 21, 1959 Filed July 15, 1955 INVENTOR- BUFORD L. KNOWLES United States Patent GARAGE TOOL Buford L. Knowles, Haines City, Fla. Application July 15, 1955, Serial No. 522,309 Claims. (Cl. 214-1) This invention relates to garage tools and has for its principal object the provision of a tool that can. readily be mounted on any ordinary floor jack and will support transmissions, differential carriers, etc. so that these mechanisms may be removed from an automobile or truck, repaired, and then secured back in-place in the vehicle. An important object of the present invention .is to provide a tool of this type which will have general use and may be safely and efiiciently used by one man. 7

. A further object of the invention is to provide a base plate to be assembled .on a hydraulic floor jack and having on the base plate a pair of spaced rods a cradle which can be locked in chosen position, the base also carrying an extensible, brace and an adjustable chuck to insure that a heavy truck'part will be safe from slipping.

A still further object of the invention is to provide one or more cables secured to spools which are slidably and rotatably mounted one at each side of a base plate, the free end of each cable having a loop which can be secured either to a nut, bolt or other projection on the mechanism being carried or which can be hooked by an anchoring member at the opposite side of the supporting plate.

, In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a side view.

Figure 2 is a plan view.

Figure 3 is a bottom plan view, and

Figure 4 is a detail.

In general, the base of my tool consists of a heavy steel plate 10, a convenient size being x 12", which will take care of practically anyditferential or transmission. On this base plate is mounted a cradle 11, a chuck 12 and a brace 14. At each side the base plate 10 carries a noncircular rod 15 each having an end extension 17 by which the shaft may be rotated by means of a small wrench, the shaft carrying a ratchet wheel 18. By having the rod 15 square in cross-section, it may readily be rotated by an open end wrench applied anywhere along its length, the wrench opening being the same size as the side of the rod or shaft 15. On each of the shafts 15 I mount a non-rotating spool 20 on which is wound a cable 21, one end of which is fastened to the spool and the other end is formed into a loop 22 which may be received by an anchoring piece 23 loose on the opposite shaft 15.

The chuck 12 is a simple strap 25 having upturned ends 26 and 27 which may or may not be of the same height. The strap 25 has a central slot 27 of materially shorter length than the corresponding slot 28 in the base plate 10. Two small guiding lugs 31 and 32 overlie the front edge of the base plate and allow the chuck to slide the entire width of the plate. By spacing the upturned ends 26 and 27 about 5" apart I find that I can take care of differential carriers of almost any car or truck.

The brace 14 is mounted on a round rod 30, pivotally and removably mounted in lugs 34 and 35 extending from the base plate 10. The brace is extensible to a desired length as it is in three telescoping sections 36, 37

' the base a pair of tracks mounted to form and 38 which can be secured in adjusted position at the correct length by two thumbscrews 39. The sections of thebrace are each channel-shaped in cross section, ,but the end section 38 is flared to the full width of the metal strip and has a smooth recess 40 so as conveniently to receive, for example, the small end of a differential carrier assembly when the large diameter of this assembly is supported by the chuck at the other end. The brace 14 slides freely along the rod 30 and can rotate with respect to it in order to contact short or long differentials. The thumbscrew 41 at the end of rod 30 permits the easy removal of the rod 30 carrying brace 14. In handling automatic transmissions and some large truck transmissions, brace 14, cradle 11 and chuck 12 are removed from base plate 10.

A convenient method of securing the base plate 10 to a hydraulic floor jack 7 plate. The other two clamps, however, should be adjustable and, consequently, I weld to 43 and 44 and serrate these with grooves 45 to be engaged by the sharp downturned end 46 of one of the movable clamps 47. A small boss at the end of the movable clamps 47 assists in giving a very firm connection between the hydraulic floor jack and the tool.

The rod 15 which is preferably square in cross-section, has a cylindrical end 50 which turns freely in the bracket 51 extending downwardly and outwardly from the base plate 10. In passing through the other bracket 53, however, I find it convenient to have the bearing very much larger in diameter and in this hearing I mount a disc 52 having a square hole to receive the shaft 15. This disc is held in place by washers 55 and 56. The ratchet wheel 18 has a square hole snugly receiving the rod 15 and lies between washers 56 and 57. The spool 20 may slide along the rod 15 as it has a hole snugly fitting the rod.

The cradle 11 includes two bars 60 and 61 mounted in end plates 62 and 63, the plates each being pivoted centrally on a horizontal bolt 65, the head 6601? which engages a post resting upon, but not secured to, the base plate 10. A pair of fairly large clutch plates 68 are mounted one on each side of the end plate 62 and are engaged by washers 69 and 70, the latter carrying at its bottom a horizontal bolt 72 passing through a slot in the base plate and carrying an upper nut 73 by means of which and the thumb nut 74 the threaded post 72 and the horizontal bolt 65 may be elevated or lowered. The vertical post 72 also provides means whereby the cradle may be held either in its normal position parallel to one of the ends of the plates or the two vertical posts 72 may be moved to opposite ends of their respective slots 75, in which case the cradle makes a considerable angle with the edge of the plate, depending upon the length of the slot 75. I find that a slot length of about 2" is ample to take care of any work that may be expected. When the cradle is in adjusted position the vertical post is locked by the thumb nut 74 and the relative heights of the bars 60 and 61 above the plate is secured by the end thumb nuts 64. I find it quite convenient to curve one end of each end plate as at 77, while leaving the other corner 78 a right angle to engage the top of the base plate 10 firmly when the bars 60 and 61 are equally distant from the top of the base plate.

The pawl 80 for ratchet wheel 18 is pivoted as at 81 between the bracket 53 Patented Apr. 21,1959

Frequently, it. happensthat. a; large mechanism must be removed from. they automobile in, one. position. but. after.

it is taken out of place it is easier to handle that particular piece of mechanism if. it could be turned through a considerable angle, often 90 By, moving-one of the -two rlevers 87 out= ofi contact with its ratchetpawl, thereby,leaving;thelatter operative; while; hav ng the opposite leverhold its pawl out of; engagement withits ratchet wheel, a large; heavypiece: can readily. be turned-over, rememberingthatzeachrof thetwosshafts 15 are manually. controlled by a-simple-open-ended wrench withiits ,opening of the same size asthesquare rod, 7 for example. Conseqnently, a five-forward =speed;trans= missiomcanbe-let down from its normalposition in the. mick and then may be rolled over byloosening one cable and.tighteningtheother, this makingit possible for one. manto complete theoperation inonly a few minutes, and without the usualneed for taking off the gearshift lever. After repair, the transmission can readily be straightened: up againon the base plate for-replacing in the truck by having. one lever holding-its pawl out of position and. the other lever; being free of its pawl which latter then, by urge of the Spring 86, engages its ratchet wheel. Any piece of mechanism may therefore be rolled over on-the base plate and held at any angle desired (by theoperator:

holding one wrench on one shaft with one hand to release slowly one cable and holding a similar wrench in the other. hand to operate the shaft which is tighteningthe.

3. A garage tool' adapted to be carried" by a floor jackfon use. in. supporting aheavy member. of an auto mobile mechanism to be repaired, comprising a rigid base having parallel sides, a pair-of shafts each having a fiat side and being pivotally mounted at the opposite parallel sides of said base to be independently manually rotated about their respective axes, a spool slidable on each shaft and having an internal fiat, sideto prevent relative rotation of the spool and shaft, 'a flexible cable secured to each spool to engage-1 the mechanism on said base, and means for preventing rotation ofeither shaft at will, whereby the two shafts may berotated independently of each othenliy a twoahanded; operation to.apply. tension to the cables to bind said mechanism to the base with the other cable. The cables are preferably of multistrand wire and are quite flexible.

While I much prefer that the brace-14 be free torotate.

and to slide on rod 30, 1 maylock the sleeve 90 of inner;

section 36 to the rod by a set-screw such as 91 .and.

thus fasten thebrace 14 in desired angular position-by tightening the thumb-screw 41.

What I claim is:

1. A garage tool comprising a rectangularbase plate,

having a pair of slots therein, a pair of post assemblies adjustably mounted in said slots for movement up; and down with respect to the base as well as along theslots, a. pair of coaxial pivot pins carried by the posts, a cradle mounted on said pivot pins; means for locking the cradle at a chosen angle on the pins, means for clampingithe posts in chosen position on the base, a pair of cablesextending on opposite sides'of the cradle and cable-tensioning means fastened to opposite sides of the base platefor: binding an object resting on the cradle to the base plates 2. The tool of claim 1 in which thecable tensioning. means includes at each endofv the base plate, a cable winding shaft roughly normal to the axis. of the cradle, a hook on the shaft for holding'the freeend'of the cable from the opposite shaft, means for latching theshaft in adjusted positions, and means for holding the last-named means inoperative.

on athe'rbases by:slowly loosening-one cable while tighteningi theiothericablez.

.4-.- Thertool=ofi claim- 3 in which eachcable carries-at' its free' end'za -loop, @the'icables extend roughly parallel to each other,.andanianchoringmember slides on each shaft to :receive the :loopedend of theicable carried by thesp'ool on .the;oppositeishaft.1

5. The tool oftclaimi3rimwhich eachshaft is square incross'section, .and themeans on each shaft includes a ratchet wheel; a pawl :engaging such ratchet wheel, and'a pawl. engagingrmember to" hold" the pawl" inoperative, whereby the: workerv maycturn :either shaft clockwise or COllIllfif'rClOCkWlSGl Witltem. open .ended wrench fitting the square-shaftiwhen itszpawl-is :heldJin inoperative position, and may turn the shaft in one direction only 'When the pawl is in. normal v operativeiposition.

References Cited" in the tile of this patent l V UNITED STATES PATENTS 

